Love street food?  Love food festivals?  The Eat Real Festival (Eat Real Fest) happening this weekend (August 28 - August 30th, 2009) will give you both.  Their website says that they are putting the food back in fast with street food, fresh summer fruits & veggies, live music, handcrafted local beers, and ice cream sold from the back of a bicycle.  The festival itself is FREE and street eats should be $1-$5.  This year, the festival takes place from August 28th-August 30th at the Jack London Square in Oakland.  The best part?  Proceeds from Eat Real Fest in Oakland will be benefiting People's Grocery, La Cocina, and Community Alliance with Family Farmers.

Here's what the website says about the Eat Real Festival:

Founded in 2008, Eat Real Festival (Eat Real Fest) is a social venture created to inspire eaters to choose tasty, healthy, good food. Through a vibrant, local festival in Oakland, CA, and a focus on delicious and sustainable “street food,” Eat Real Festival puts eaters in contact with the real people -- the farmers, chefs, and producers -- who make our food. Eat Real Festival will donate a percentage of its profit to several California organizations promoting access to healthy and affordable food, entrepreneurship and economic development.

There are a lot of things going on.  For a schedule of the events: http://eatrealfest.com/medias/docs/3890_schedule.pdf

Basic Details:
What: Eat Real Fest in Oakland, CA
Where: Jack London Square, Oakland, CA
When: Friday 8/28 - Sunday 8/30
Cost: FREE

The schedule for Saturday 8/29 at Eat Real Festival:

10am-9pm: Street Eats
10am-5pm Good to go market
10am-9pm: Beer Shed

10:30am-11:15am: Kumandae Miller
11:45am-12:30pm: Shovelman
1:00pm-1:45pm: Bhi Bhiman
2:15pm-3:00pm: Brass Liberation Orchestra
3:00pm-3:30pm Senator Loni Hancock to speak
3:30pm-3:45pm Deshret Dance Co.

4:00pm-4:45pm: Rondalla Del Sag
5:30pm-6:15pm: Raw Deluxe
7:00pm-7:45pm: Butchery Contest
8:00pm-10:00pm: Film Series

Saturday is the real deal at the Eat Real Festival.  Saturday is truly a full day of fun and food for the family.  Personally, I'm looking forward to all of the street eats and what they have to offer.

What is Street Eats?

Real foodies know that great food and truly authentic food does not have to be in a fancy restaurant.  There are plenty of great street options available and this is also true for the Eat Real Festival.  The street eats is a collection of the world's oldest fast food and curbside dining.  It will showcase some of the freshest and most delectable food you've ever tasted from top street food trucks to carts selling tacos, Vietnamese sandwiches, hot dogs, ice cream, and more.  The best part of all of these delicious delicacies is that they will be featuring select sustainable and local ingredients.  This will truly be the highlight of the event and the Eat Real Festival has assembled a very impressive collection of local restaurants and vendors who are ready to serve festival attendees.  For the full list, click here.

What is the Good to Go Market?
Just like the name implies, this is the market for good-to-go products that you'll want to take home with you.  You'll find some of the juiciest peaches you've ever tasted, sweet corn that will make you yearn for more, and crunchy sour pickles that you won't believe.  The market is set to offer the best local product and hand-made goods directly from farmers and other purveyors in the Bay Area!  The products will be ready for your hungry tummies and for you to take home from 10:00am-4:00pm both Saturday and Sunday.  Take home some food to remember the food and fun you had at the Eat Real Festival.  For a list of farmers/purveyors, click here.